My Life Before
by baamoooink
Summary: Penelope is 16, and her life is full of problems. She looks back over the years to see if she can find any answers, but will she? A bit of PenelopexCappy.
1. Chapter 1

**My life before**

Hi, so...okay, this is my 1st fanfic, so 'lil flames are aloud. Be nice Improvements are welcome. And compliments (hint hint).

Anyway, I decided to do this story on Penelope, as who doesn't like her? (Retorical question) She's not my favorate, but hey:) This is a human ham fic, just so you know. Oh, yeah, the ---Penelope is...--- are flashbacks. Seriously, don't be put off by Penelope when she's young. You were like that once too. Hopefully it'll get better though...

Disclaimer: I don't own Hamtaro.

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My name is Penelope Hall. I am 16 years old. I go to St. Katheryn's all girls school. My favorate colour is yellow.My eyes are brown and my hair is brown. I'm right handed. 

Basically, I'm not the most interesting person you'll ever come across.

I have a crush on a boy who almost certainly doesn't like me back.

My best friend is Pashmina, even though she's 3 years older than me (so she's 19). She still treats me like I'm 2 and the only words I can say are 'ookyoo'. Whenever I say anything different she seems extremely impressed, but I don't mind. It's kind of funny.

I can remember when I actually _was_ 2, funnily enough. I used to get so frustrated that nobody could understand me, other than Pashmina.

Then when I turned 3, my vocabulary expanded. I could say ookyoo _and_ ookwee. Impressive.

Eventually, people could understand me by the age of 4. And only when people could understand _me, _could I understand _them_, what was really happening. That's when things...changed. And things kept getting more and more different as time passed.

---Penelope is 4---

Mummy and daddy are in the kitchen, yelling at each other again. I don't know why. I'm in the hall, ready to go to nursery. I even have my shoes on.

"Mummy?" I yell. "Mummy, can we go now?"

"Wait a minute, Penelope!" She screams. What did I do wrong?

"Don't take it out on Penelope!" Daddy says, all nice and calm, even though he's glaring nastily at mummy. Then again, mummy's glaring nastily back too.

"Come on, Penelope, then. Get in the car. Now." Yes! At last! I skip out of the house, and breathe in the fresh air. It feels cold and sharp, but I like it. Mummy gives daddy one last mean look, then slams the door.

Daddy opens the door again. "Bye, love." He calls to me. Mummy snorts.

"Bye bye daddy!" I jump in the car and wave goodbye. Then we're off down the road. I beam - today's going to be a good day - well for me anyway. Mummy seems stressed.

A few minutes later, we're outside the nursery. I hope I'm the first one there - then I'll get to choose the best colouring pencils.

I leap out the car. "Bye, mummy, I love you!"

"Bye, dear." Then she drives off. She probably didn't hear me say 'I love you', or she would've said 'I love you, _too_.' Oh well.

I run into nursery. I'm not the first one, though. Cappy's here too.

"Hi Cappy."

"Hi Penelope. Don't worry, I saved you the good colouring pencils."

"Really? THANKYOU!" I smile. Then I sit down. Cappy really did get the good ones, all the colours of the rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple...I line them all up, then grab a piece of paper. Now, what to draw...?

"What're you drawing, Cappy?" I ask.

"My house. What are you going to draw?"

"Uuuuum...a rainbow!" I pick up the red pencil first, and draw a long, curved line. Then orange, then all the rest. I also draw some grass and the sun, for good measure.

"There." I say. "Finished."

"Wow, that's really good!" Cappy says.

"Yours is too, Cappy. But why are the bricks blue?"

"I like blue."

"Oh."

---

Soon, nursery's over. I walk outside. Mummy's already waiting for me in the car. I get in.

"Hi, mummy!"

"Hello, dear. I'm sorry about this morning..."

"It's okay."

"Right. Well, what did you do today, honey?"

"WELL, me and Cappy drew some pictures. I drew a rainbow, and Cappy drew a house, but he did the bricks blue, and I don't know why. It looked good, anyway. Then me, Cappy, Pashmina, Sandy and Stan played house. I was the baby, Pashmina the mummy, Stan the daddy, Sandy the teenager and Cappy was the dog. It was fun. Then we-"

"Lovely dear." Mummy inturupts.

"Oh...well, what're we having for tea?"

"Chicken pie."

"Aaaaaah, NOOOOOOOOO! Can't we have sausage and chips? I HATE chicken pie!"

"No." Mummy snaps. Huh. She's not seeing my picture of a rainbow now, so ya boo.

When we get home, daddy's car is gone. "Where's daddy?" I ask.

"Out."

"No, I know that. Where?"

"He's out. To see a friend, I guess."

"Okay." I get out the car and run up to the door. It's locked, so I can't get in. Mummy's so slow at walking, it'll take like, 10 whole minutes for me to actually get inside.

Ok, it only took 10 seconds, but still. My point still stands.

Mummy goes off into the kitchen, where she and daddy were argueing before, to make some tea, I guess. Tea's yucky. I'd much rather have a chocolate milkshake, or Ribena. Chicken pie's yucky too. We better have a nice pudding...well, by we, I mean I. I eat at 5, mummy 6, and daddy 7. I think it's because he gets back later. I don't really mind.

I walk into the lounge to watch TV. Soon enough, I have to get that awful chicken pie down my throat. Gross. Then daddy comes home, and mummy sends me to my room for no reason. I have a bubble bath instead though, then brushed my teeth. I didn't think mummy or daddy would mind, but they did. And I got sent to my room again.

Jeez.

It's not like I was rude, I just had a bath. I mean, come on.

So I just went to my room because I didn't want to get into even MORE trouble.

Neither daddy or mummy saw my rainbow picture. I'll have to show them tomorow, if they're not argueing again...

I wish.

I climb into bed, and fall asleep almost instantly...

Only to be awiken 10 minutes later by the sound of mummy and daddy argueing again. I shove my pillow over my head but I can still hear them, clear as a bell.

I get out of bed, really quietly, and tip toe downstairs. I might as well listen in, what harm could it do? They woke me up, after all.

I press my ear up against the door.

"Where were you today?" I hear mummy ask daddy. So she didn't know, after all.

"I _told _you, I was out with my friends!"

"Where?"

"Pub."

"Yeah, right. Of course."

"I was! Why would I lie?"

Silence. Suddenly I hear the phone ring - no one picks it up, so the person leaves a message.

"Hey, George! (Penelope's dad) It's Fred. Just ringing to see if you'd like to go to the pub or somewhere else again next week, too. After all, today was fun, eh? Anyway, see ya, mate!" Beep.

"Now do you believe me, Christine?"

Mummy's silent.

"Hmm?" Daddy carries on.

"Yes...I'm so sorry, George, I just thought..." What did mummy think? Sleepy dust is filling up my eyes, so I decide to go back to bed.

Quietly, I stumble up to my bedroom and fall asleep.

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Yeah, I know that chapter very very boring, but hey. As I said it will (hopefully) get better. 

Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: The spelling mistakes in Penelope's letter are supposed to be like that. Don't worry. He he.

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The wind whistles through the trees, making me shiver. I pull my coat closer to me for warmth. 

Then I remember. I reach into my coat pocket and pull out a brownish piece of paper. It's a letter from me to my mum, that I wrote 11 years ago. The actual words on the paper are a thing of the past; they faded away years ago. But it doesn't matter. I know the whole thing of by heart anyway. Even the spelling mistakes and awful handwriting.

It makes me laugh that I could even make those mistakes, but I did.

Why, you ask, is this letter so precious and dear to me? Because, when I gave the letter to my mum, she hugged me. For the last time.

---Penelope is 5---

Cappy came over to play today. Everything was perfect (we were playing outside in the garden) but then the doorbell rang.

"Aaaaah, noooooooooooooooooooo! You're mum can't be here _already_, can she?" I say.

"I guess so..." He replies. Just at that moment, mummy and Cappy's mum, Elaine, come outside.

"Come on, Cappy." Elaine says.

"Nooooo, can't you have a cup of coffee or something?"

Mummy looks at Elaine. Please, please, please...

"Well...I guess so..." Mummy replies, and she shows Elaine to the kitchen. I wait untill they're out of earshot, then punch the air. "YES!" I cry. "Come on Cappy! What do you want to play?"

"Hmmm..." Suddenly he pokes me. "Tag, you're it!" Then he speeds off inside.

"Hey!" I cry, as I follow him. "You're legs are longer then mine, you can run faster! That's not fair!"

Cappy runs into the lounge, and I follow. He ducks behind a sofa, and I spin around, but -

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" My foot gets caught up in the rug, and I go spiralling of towards the fireplace. I bang my head on it, then fall to the ground, and curl up into the tinyest ball. My hand clasps over my head, were I banged myself.

I'm silent for a few seconds, letting the shock, pain and embarresment of what just happened sink in. Then I bawl my head off.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!"

"Penelope!" Cappy's by my side now. "Penelope, are you okay?"

Mummy and Elaine rush in. "What happened here?" Elaine says.

"No!" Mummy screams. But she's not looking at me. She's looking to the left, wher her most-precious-vase-that-I-should-never-ever-ever-ever-EVER-touch would normally be, but this time, it's on the floor...broken into tiny pieces.

"My _VASE_!!!" No sympathy for me, then. "WHAT _HAPPENED_???"

"Um..." I mumble, wiping my face. The pain of my throbbing forehead momentarily vanishes from the ice-cold look on mummys face. Cappy helps me to lift myself up. "Ur..."

"Cappy, it's time for us to go!" Elaine says. Then she grabs Cappy and runs. I barely hear Cappy's goodbye before the door is slammed shut. Good move.

Then I look back at mummy, who, at this moment in time, kind of resembled a bull. A very angry bull.

Whoops.

"Penelope, go to your room."

"Mummy-"

"GO TO YOUR ROOM. NOW!" She raises her hand as if to slap me, so I scuttle off into my bedroom, sharpish.

How come mummy noticed that her vase had broken but not that I was hurt? She must really love her vase...and I broke it...

I know! I'll write a letter to show how sorry I am. I grab a sheet of paper and my best pink gel pen. Then I get to work.

A few minutes later, I'm finished - and it's pretty good, even if I do say so myself! No spelling mistakes, readable handwriting...

(Penelope's letter)_Deer mummy, I'm very soree that I brok yor vaz. Plees forgov me. It waz an acsident, I didnt meen two. Me and Cappy were playeeng but I fell ova and hit mi hed and it fel. I will buy a neew won if yoo want me to. Pleez pleez pleez forgov me. I reely didnt meen two. Lov from Penelope. xxx_

(If you didn't understand that: Dear mummy, I'm very sorry that I broke your vase. Please forgive me. It was an accident, I didn't mean to. Me and Cappy were playing but I fell over and hit my head and it fell. I will buy a new one if you want me to. Please, please, please forgive me. I really didn't mean to. Love from Penelope.)

I draw some pink and red hearts at the bottom, along with some extra purple kisses (x's).

I pick up the white sheet of paper and take a deep breath. Then I walk out of my bedroom and make my way to the lounge. I open the door and peek in.

All of the vase has been cleaned up, and mummy is sitting on the sofa, just staring. When she hears me come in her head snaps up.

"Penelope! What are you doing? Go to your room, AND STAY THERE." Mummy barks.

I ignore her and hand her the letter. She snatches it away from me and reads it, while I just stand there awkwardly. Her angry expression changes into a really weird one, that I've never seen before. I can't explain it.

After she's done reading it, she lays my letter down on the table. "Come here, dear." She says. Then she pulls me into a hug.

But the weird expression never leaves her face.

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Ta-dah! Okay, that was quite a bit shorter than the first chapter, but still, please REVEIW! 


	3. Chapter 3

Here we go, chapter 3! A quick thankyou to everyone who reviewed!

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Night's falling, along with some rain. When I was little, I loved the rain. I used to jump in giant puddles and get soaking wet. I used to find it refreshing, or something like that. 

Now, I feel very differently about the rain.

I can remember that it rained on my first day of school. I still found it refreshing back then. I took a long time to grow up.

---Penelope is 6---

I'm going to a new school today! Cappy, Pashmina, and all the other Ham Hams go there, too. I can't wait to see them. I hope I'm in a few of their classes.

"Mummy, are we nearly there yet?" I ask (they're in the car).

"No."

"How much longer?"

"Around 5 more minutes, I'd say."

"Oh, okay." I swing my legs and stretch my toes in an attempt to reach the bottom of the car. I can't reach, so my legs hang limply. I look out the window and watch the scenery flash by.

Soon enough, mummy pulls into the school's car park. Children are running around in the playground. I strain my eyes and try to find any of the Ham Hams. I can't see anybody, though.

"Out you get, then." Mummy says. I jump. Suddenly I feel all nervous and tingly.

"Oh, um…aren't you going to walk with me?"

"No. I'm sorry, Penelope, but I'm late for work as it is."

"Oh, okay. Bye mummy, I love you." I get out the car.

"Bye, dear." Then she drives off. I wave after her, but then my hand falls to my side. I take a deep breath, and walk into the playground.

I look around, searching for a familiar face. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Pashmina standing by herself in one of the corners. I beam and run over to her.

"Pashminaaaaaaaa!" I yell. She spins around, startled, then smiles at me.

"Penelope! How're you?"

"I'm fine. Are any of the other Ham Hams here yet?"

"No. I'm usually early." We talk for a little longer, but soon we're called to our classrooms. I'm in Mr. Reed's class. None of the other Ham Hams are, though.

Mr. Reed is kind of chubby, and he spits when he talks. I'm glad I don't sit at the front. Mr. Reed is really boring, too. He's blabbering on about his 'rules'.

Finally he lets us go for lunch. I make my way to the canteen. There isn't that bigger of a queue, so I get fish and chips quite quickly. Yum.

I see Cappy sitting with two other boys that I don't know.

"Hi, Cappy!" I smile. I place my tray down next to him and sit. The two boys opposite us smirk at each other. Cappy blushes.

"Oh, um, hi Penelope." Why does he look so embarrassed? What did I do?

"Look Penelope…" He begins.

"Yeah?"

"Can you…can you please sit somewhere else?" My smile drops.

"Why?" I ask, hurt. So I have done something. "What have I done?"

"Nothing, it's just…um, I kind of just want to sit with my friends."

"But I am you're friend!"

"Yes, you are, but I mean my other friends."

"Fine." I stand up. "Bye." I walk off really quickly and try to find somewhere else to sit. Why didn't Cappy want me to sit with him? I don't understand. Pashmina and all the other Ham Hams have a different lunch to me, so I obviously can't sit with them. The last remaining seat is by a bunch of girls who I recognise from my class. Maybe I can sit with them…? I go over to them.

"Hi! Can I please sit with you?" They all burst out laughing. What's so funny?

"Eeeeeeeeeeeew! No way!" One girl says. "Go away! Weirdo!" I bite my lip and half walk, half run out of the hall.

I eat my lunch in the toilets.

Next lesson is Maths. Cappy's in my maths class, but I can't sit next to him as his other friends are. I sit at the back instead, by myself.

I can't focus anymore. I keep looking over to Cappy, but my eyes keep on watering.

"Penelope?" My head snaps forward towards Mr. Reed. He's staring at me.

Oh dear.

"Weeell?" He persists.

"Pardon?"

"What's the answer to the question?"

"Um…" My eyes dart around the room. Cappy's mouthing something to me…a number! I squint my eyes and try to figure out what he's mouthing.

"Is it…is it 24?"

"Yes, finally. Well done. Pay more attention, next time." Then he turns back to the board. I sink back down into my chair, relieved.

I look over to Cappy, but he's talking to his friends.

The rest of the day drags on, but soon school's over. We didn't even get to play outside, as it was raining, so I couldn't see anybody as we were forced to stay in out classrooms. I like the rain, but I wasn't aloud to play in it. Sheesh. I guess today wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

"Hey, Penelope!" I turn around. Cappy's running after me. I frown a little. I'm still annoyed, even if he did help me. He hurt my feelings.

"Oh. Hi Cappy."

"Look, Penelope. I'm really, really sorry I didn't let you play with us. Please will you forgive me? I feel really bad…"

"Ok. I forgive you. Thank you for helping me in Maths."

Cappy smiles. "It was nothing."

"But…"

"What?" Cappy's smile vanishes.

"Why didn't you want me to play with you? I'm sorry if I did anything wrong, I-"

"You didn't do anything." Cappy hangs his head. "I…I was just…embarrassed…"

"What? You were embarrassed of me? Why? What's wrong with me?" I ask.

"I…I…I can't explain…Penelope, you said you forgave me!"

"I did. It's fine." I smile.

"See you tomorrow Cappy!" I say.

"Yeah, see you!" I can see mummy's car from here. I skip over to it. I feel good again, now.

I pull open the car door and jump in. Mummy's really quiet today. I can't seem to start a conversation with her. Soon I give up, and the rest of the car journey is silent. I think she had another argument with daddy. They've been fighting more and more recently. I'm getting scared, 'cos I think it's my fault. I'm always doing things wrong, and messing things up.

I really do hope I'm not messing up their marriage.

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I don't like this chapter very much, but I wanted to get a school day done and out of the way. I plan for the next chapter to be better...well, I hope.

Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

Ta-daaaah! Yay, chapter 4! Thanks to _everyone_ who has reviewed! Anyway, has everyone realised that Penelope's getting a year older each chapter? I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear enough. But, enjoy! This happened to me :)

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Mummy's flowers were very precious to her. Not as precious to her as her vase, but precious to her all the same. She'd garden outside while I'd play with Pashmina. Me and Pashmina would play such fun and wonderful games. I can't remember many, now. I have tried, but... 

---Penelope is 7---

_Dear diary,_

_I'm so glad we moved houses! Why? Becose now, Pashmina is our next-door neybor! We play with eech other nearly every day! Speeking of wich, I'm going to go and find her now. Bye!_ (Notice how her spelling has improved?)

I place my pen down and 'hide' my diary under my pillow. Then I make my way into the garden. There's a fence to the right, separating my garden from Pashmina's. Her garden is quite a bit bigger, but mine is neater. There's much more flowers as mummy likes gardening.

"Hey, Penny!"

I look over to where the voice is coming from, to Pashmina's garden, and see her standing there already. She's wearing her pink scarf, as always.

"Catch!" She yells, and throws an inflatable ball over the fence to me. I miss it, and it rolls off.

"I wasn't ready!" I say, and then run after it.

I fetch it, then throw it back. Pashmina catches it, throws it back, and I miss again. I fetch it… and so it carries on. I'm really bad at catching. Pashmina throws the ball to me really softly, and I reach out to catch it, but it hits me on the head and bounces away into the flowers.

"Oh, Penelope! I'm so, so, so sorry! I didn't mean to! Are you okay? Here, let me come over…"

"No, it's okay! It didn't hurt at all."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. But can we play something else?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Okay, I'll get your ball…." I run over to the end of the garden and stand at the edge of the flowerbed. I reach out and try to reach the ball, careful not to ruin any of mummy's flowers. She'd be angry if I ruined them.

I grab the ball and run back over to Pashmina. I take a few steps back from the fence.

"Pashmina, see if you can catch this!"

"Okay."

"Get ready!" I throw the ball really high, at an awkward angle. It flies up, up, up, and into the sky, then plummets down and hits…

A wasp's nest.

Yep.

A wasp's nest.

Next second, the wasps are swarming out, buzzing angrily.

"Penelope, run!" Pashmina screams. "RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!" Then she spins round and sprints off.

I don't need telling twice. I sprint as fast as I can to the door, but even so, after a few steps the wasps are surrounding me. I try and hit them away, but they sting my arm and hands. I scream even louder.

I wrench open the door, leap in, slam it shut, and then collapse in a heap on the floor. My arms and hands were stung all over, and have now gone an un-natural reddish colour. One horrible wasp even stung my butt. I cry louder then I can ever remember.

"MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMY!!!" I screech. "MUUUUUUMMY!!!"

"What is it, Penelope?" Mummy asks, who just steps in.

"MMMMMMMMUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMYYYYYY!!!!!"

"Penelope! If you tell me what's wrong, I can help."

I take a deep breath. "MeandPashminawereplayingoutsidebutthenwehitawaspsnestandtheycameoutandI GOT STUNG!!!!! It hurts!"

Mummy's face screws up. "Ah. That really must hurt. Okay, I'll get you some ice…" Then she scuttles off. Soon she returns with the ice, and puts in on my arms.

"That should help. They really did sting you, you poor thing…"

"Can I go and see if Pashmina's okay?"

"Yes, but be quick."

"Thank you." My arms, hands, and butt still hurt, but I need to see if Pashmina's okay. She is my bestest ever friend, after all.

I ring the doorbell. Her dad answers, and shows me to Pashmina's room. I go in. She's sat there on her bed, rubbing her arm, which is all swollen.

"Pashmina, are you okay?"

"I'm alright. I fell over when I ran away, so I got stung all over my back, legs, arm and head. Some even stung my butt, and the inside of my ear…"

"Ouch. That really must hurt."

"It does. What about you?"

"My arms and hands, and I got stung on the butt, too!"

"What kind wasps."

Just then we hear someone screaming. "My flowers! My flowers, they're ruined! My beautiful flowers…" They sound like mummy…

"Is that your mum?" Pashmina asks.

"Um…oops…"

"What?"

"When I was running, I…I think I might've trampled all over her flowers…"

"Oh dear. Do you want to stay over for a while, then?"

"Yes, please!" I smile.

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End file.
